Ed Rendell, governor of Pennsylvania wants to pay for providing health insurance

February 20, 2008 - for people who don’t have it, by adding an additional 10-cents per pack tax on cigarettes (to $1.45 - why not more??) plus a new 36-cent tax on moist snuff/chewing tobacco and pipe/rolling tobacco and a new 3.6-cent tax per cigar - Let's Get It Done - Already. Pa. politicians are in lust with sin taxes, phillyBurbs.com, 2/20/2008 (Rendell actually introduced a proposal to increase the cigarette tax by $0.10 per pack as well as levy a new tax on other tobacco products to help fund his plan to provide health insurance to all Pennsylvania residents back in January 2007. - excerpted from: Borys Krawczenuik, Rendell Would Raise Cigarette Tax a Dime, Scranton Times-Tribune, January 27, 2007.) The Dummies - July 1, 2007 - Pennsylvania already taxes cigarettes, but is the only state in the union that doesn't tax other tobacco products.. Also, Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell is proposing an excise tax on tobacco... William T. Godshall - MPH, the Executive Director of Smokefree Pennsylvania, a proponent of the use of snus recently co-authored a paper with Dr. Brad Rodu (December 2006 issue of the Harm Reduction Journal) entitled, "Tobacco Harm Reduction: An Alternate Cessation Strategy for Inveterate Smokers". When we asked Mr. Godshall how can we limit the distribution of moist snuff pouches so they don't get in the mouths of kids. He responded: The 1992 Synar Amendment, and laws in every state (and many local jurisdictions) sharply reduced tobacco sales to youth, and the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement sharply reduced cigarette and smokeless tobacco advertising and promotions that had previously targetted youth. Meanwhile, tax hikes on cigarettes and other tobacco products have further reduced youth consumption of those tobacco products. Click on image to enlarge..(TobaccoWatch.org)